1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an in-vehicle hydrogen storage apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A fuel cell generates electricity by causing an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen, which is a fuel gas, and oxygen, which is an oxidant. In a fuel cell vehicle, the running motor is driven by electrical power supplied from a fuel cell mounted aboard the vehicle.
Because hydrogen used as a fuel gas in a fuel cell is odorless, it is difficult to detect a leak of hydrogen, should such a leak occur when refilling a fuel cell vehicle with hydrogen gas to which an odorizing agent has not been added. Given this, an odorizing agent is added to hydrogen gas used in a fuel cell vehicle (refer to, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publications No. JP-A-2004-111167 and No. JP-A-2002-29701).
A fuel cell vehicle must be periodically refilled with hydrogen gas. There are hydrogen filling stations, however, that supply hydrogen gas without adding an odorizing agent to the hydrogen gas. There are also cases in which the odorizing agent added to the hydrogen gas is not suitable for a fuel cell mounted aboard a vehicle. If hydrogen gas, to which an appropriate odorizing agent has not been added, is supplied to a fuel cell vehicle, it could be difficult to detect leaks of hydrogen gas from a storage tank, for example, and operation of the fuel cell could be adversely affected. It is therefore necessary for a user to search for a hydrogen filling station that supplies hydrogen gas to which an appropriate odorizing agent has been added.